Unlawful Contact by Pamela ClareWhy I read this: At the start of this month I noticed that a few of this authors books were on several Best and worst lists (in the best category, of course) so I put an order in for them with Chapters. Untamed is the other book I bought.

Taken hostage by a convicted murderer while reporting at a prison, Sophie Alton has no idea that the man holding the gun to her head is the bad boy who was her first love in high school. Condemned to life without parole, Marc Hunter finds himself with no choice but to break out of prison after his younger sister disappears with her baby.

Though he regrets what he has to put Sophie through, he can’t let anything get in the way of his stopping the corrupt officials who are set on destroying what’s left of his family. But being near Sophie rekindles memories for both of them. As the passion between them heats up, so does the conspiracy to put both of them in their graves.

Marc, the hero of this book, is who kept me drawn to Unlawful Contact. He is the prime example of the perfect tortured hero. He had a hard childhood and had some terrible experiences in prison. What he went through in life turned him into a hard man, but it didn't turn him into a sissy man-boy.

The suspense parts were well written. I can usually pin point the bad guy during his or her first scene, but that only happened with one of the bad guys this time.

My favourite part of the whole story was the very end. I'm a sucker for a baby ending. I've made it no secret that, to me, the best love stories wrap up with a pregnancy or a birth.

Sophie was hard to deal with. For someone who is supposed to be such a smart journalist, she sure did have a few too many TSTL moments. For that reason, I'm going with a C+. I liked this book, but Sophie prevents me from ever wanting to read it again. However, I did enjoy it enough to recommend it to others, and I absolutely plan on getting the first two books in the series.

I think all of PC's heroines are like that (or the ones I've read, anyway). Like Nath I don't really care for journalist heroines, mostly b/c I think they cross the TSTL line in order to get a story. Or so it seems most of the time.